The English Literary Society (ELS), Department of English, International Islamic University Islamabad, recently hosted a seminar titled “Seeing Like the Blind Fakir: Sources and Strategies of Worldbuilding” by Dr. Muhammad Sheeraz Dasti.
The seminar explored practical strategies for accessing and portraying world and its unique texture in Creative Writing.
Dr. Sheeraz introduced the foundational concept of “scapes,” drawing from both creative and theoretical frameworks, including Arjun Appadurai’s five scapes of globalization—ethnoscapes, technoscapes, financescapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes—to provide a multidimensional understanding of how worlds are shaped and perceived.
The central theme of the discussion was the importance of perspective. The seminar challenged participants to see the world through unconventional lenses, such as that of a flâneuse (an observant wanderer) or a fakir (a street beggar). A powerful example illustrated how a fakir perceives a traffic light not as a piece of urban infrastructure, but as a vital component of their livelihood, with broken signals directly impacting their ability to receive charity. This exercise underscored the idea that worldbuilding is not a neutral act but is deeply filtered through the specific, situated viewpoint of its inhabitants.
Drawing from writers like Benjamin Percy and Daniyal Mueenuddin, Dr. Sheeraz Dasti highlighted how one can build a world through the professions of its people, the nuances of its language—including the “chutnification” of English to give the flavor of the place. Citing from James McPherson’s Gold Coast, Dr. Dasti showed how a writer can also act like an anthropologist for whom sometimes the garbage of a place becomes a site of study. The profound idea from Toni Morrison that water remembers its old course emphasized worldbuilding as an act of emotional and historical memory, a flooding of imagination.
The seminar successfully demonstrated that compelling worldbuilding is an active, empathetic, and multi-sensory process, empowering aspiring writers to create richer, more authentic narrative universes.
The event was also joined by Dr. Arshad Mahmood Raja, Mr. Syed Rashid Mahmood, and Dr. Mahmood ul Hassan.
In the end of the session, ELS President Ali thanked the resource person, the faculty, and the students for making the event memorable.